Scales of the type to which this disclosure pertains normally include a display/operating unit, a scale platform, and a weighing-oriented electronic system for the control of the scale. The display/operating unit is connected to the scale platform by means of a pedestal. The electronic system is arranged for the most part in the display/operating unit.
Scales used in the food sector need to be cleaned regularly. This often involves the use high-pressure cleaning equipment and aggressive cleaning agents. In order to ensure that no food residues accumulate on the scale, the respective housings of the display/operating unit, the weighing platform and the pedestal are made of stainless steel. The housings need to be sealed well enough to guarantee that no water or cleaning agent can penetrate into the interior of the housing. If water or cleaning agent were to enter into one of the housings, the electronic components inside the housing could suffer damage. Such sealed housings are known from the existing state of the art.
The parts of the electronic system that are built into the display/operating unit and those that are built into the scale platform need to communicate with each other. The communication takes place by means of cable connections. The cables can be routed along the outside of the pedestal, but this arrangement has the drawback that the cables which are dressed along the pedestal are exposed to abrasive influences. Some state-of-the-art pedestals have a hollow space, and the connecting cables are channeled through the hollow space inside the pedestal. By being enclosed in the pedestal, the connecting cables are thus protected during the abrasive cleaning process.
The electronics of the scale require maintenance at regular intervals. In order to gain access to the scale electronics, the housing of the scale platform and/or of the display/operating unit has to be opened.
Opening the housing is a cumbersome procedure, as several securing means have to be unfastened every time. As a further problem, opening the housing requires a housing part to be removed. An enclosure seal is arranged between this housing part and the rest of the housing. This enclosure seal is vulnerable and often suffers damage in the opening process. The damage to the enclosure seal often goes unnoticed during the maintenance service. As a consequence, cleaning agent or water will be able to penetrate into the interior of the scale platform and/or the display/operating unit during a subsequent cleaning process, whereby the electronics of the scale can be damaged.
Therefore, the task presents itself to create a weighing scale in which at least parts of the electronic system can be serviced without opening the housing of the scale platform or of the display/operating unit.